Campaign History
Elthelas Campaign Setting -> Campaign History Everyone is encouraged to contribute to this campaign journal, as well as put a little something on their character pages! Unlike the rest of this wiki, this page is primarily written and maintained by DarkJackalope, rather than JosephCHarrison, the setting author. The Party Also known as the infamous 2nd Regiment 32nd Squad of the Black Wolf Irregulars. Glux Alkea Vanriel Galan Soren Elhevir See also: NPCs Met So Far Session 1 Goblin Glux Cogknocker traveled with a band of trollkin mercenaries from Degak'Ta by ship through Kalland, Westport, until arriving at Northport . While at Northport he purchased 20 head of cattle, cleverly coming away with a small profit for himself while keeping the voracious company fed. From Northport they marched south until they arrived at the Fortress of Light. At the north gate they encountered a lone sand orc, Alkea, who was trying to get the attention of the gate guards so that she could enlist. The trollkin managed to get the attention of the people on the walls, they all entered the fortress and made their way to the parade ground. Meanwhile Vanriel, a half-elf tracker, arrived at a small town recruiting station in Gerasalim, where the local recruiters were trying to figure out what to do with a bunch of fresh farmers and a half-elf bard named Galan, who had already been turned away from the Fortress of Light once. Tasked with helping to whip them into shape on the way to the Fortress, they made their way south. En route Vanriel showed off her hunting skills by bringing down a young boar, and Galan had a fun time of it dealing with the loudmouth sergeant who was in charge. Dragonsday 13th of Sylvanus, 1843: With everyone at the Fortress of Light at last, the new recruits were all assembled in the parade ground outside the Keep, where they had to endure a speech by the honorable Fedran Moor, General of the Dormanian Contingent at the Fortress. Vanriel failed to disguise her yawn, and quickly found herself relegated with the rest of the party into the 2nd Regiment 32nd Squad of the Black Wolf Irregulars, a band of military misfits led by Sergeant "Mad Dog" Coras. Joining the half-elves, orc, and goblin were Imse Soras, an elven druid; Jimmy T. Kirk, a self-important young human; Syphilis, a chauvinistic and lecherous human lordling; Pickles the Chef, a kindly halfling; and Turgit Underhill, the company's dwarven medic. They were shown their barracks by the sergeant, after which they went to the quartermaster to get their equipment and where Glux made a deal with the quartermaster for better armor in return for some cash and hard labor. Trollsday 14th of Sylvanus: 'The next morning they had their first training, a sparring competition between the recruits. Alkea won easily, beating Jimmy T. Kirk in the final round. '''Orcsday 15th of Sylvanus: '''On their 3rd day at the fortress the party received their first orders, to find out who (or what) was summoning wolves to poach cows from incoming supply caravans in the Blighted Desert north of the Fortress. The party set out. Later on this day, Soren was released from military prison in the Fortress. He had been convicted of injuring his commanding officer in a curious incident with a bovid, but had finished his sentence. Transferred to the 32nd Squad, Soren was sent out with a tracker to join them north of the Fortress. '''Godsday 17th of Sylvanus: '''The squad came upon with a cattle-driving caravan, which was shortly attacked by summoned wolves. The party dispatched them relatively easily. Session 2 The party was met after the battle by Soren and the tracker who had lead him to the group, and left them with the orders to take whatever was summoning the wolves alive. Beginning beyond a dune where the wolves had been initially summoned, Vanriel managed to track the summoner's footprints back to a cave. Sgt Coras and Jimmy T. Kirk waited outside while the rest of the squad made their way inside, where a dirty sorcerer sat crying in the dark with a summoned wolf, crying about his lost cow. He was quick to attack when he noticed the party, however, and immediately killed young Pickles with magic missiles. Glux, still disguised as a cow from an earlier endeavor to trick the attacking wolves, confused the sorcerer greatly. Eventually the squadron managed to knock the mage unconscious without killing him, and bound him. On the way out of the cave Jimmy T. Kirk returned to the Enterprise, leaving the squad down two members. They returned to the caravan and made their way back to the Fortress of Light. '''Elvesday 18th of Sylvanus: '''On the way back to the Fortress of Light they were attacked by small monstrous scorpions. It became fully apparent that Imse Soras was no druid, but merely an ambitious young elf maid. The party had to struggle one without any healing magics. '''Gnomesday 19th of Sylvanus: '''They arrived back at the Fortress of Light, and slept. '''Dwarvesday 20th of Sylvanus: '''The party had to do formation drills with pikes, with which most of them were not particularly proficient (especially poor Glux, as it was sized incorrectly for him). That night Galan stayed up late with teaching her in the ways of bards, and then seduced a large barbarian woman by the name of Brunhilde who kept him up ''all night. Meanwhile, Alkea sought out Sgt Coras in private, and warned him that most of the squad saw his strange refusal to come to the den of the sorcerer as cowardice, and blamed him for the death of their friend Pickles. '''Dragonsday 21st of Sylvanus: '''Sergeant Coras apologized to the party for his unmanly behavior, and the party left on a scouting expedition to the orc-held territory south of the Fortress. Although Galan was sleepy and temporarily distracted by mirages they did not find anything on the first day. '''Trollsday 22nd of Sylvanus: '''On the second day of the scouting expedition they were attacked by hobgoblin scouts that wounded Glux. The party defeated the hobgoblins, with Galan taking one of them captive. Session 3 The captive hobgoblin, Henrietta, explained that as slaves, she and the now-dead Josh were forced to scout the area surrounding their camp, and if they did not return at a preset time, their families were killed. She begged the 32nd Squad to bring her back to the alarmingly-near orcish warcamp. The group argued briefly, but all agreed in favor of trying to help he slaves. Henrietta even suggested that if they, or the Fortress, could offer aide, the goblin and hobgoblin slaves would gladly revolt against their orc masters. Disliking him greatly, the squad happily sent Syphilis back to the Fortress to send word of their discoveries and plans. '''Orcsday 23rd of Sylvanus: As they camped, the squad noticed an enemy company examining the scene of their battle with the hobgoblin scouts, but they did not find their campsite. Henrietta was due back to camp by that evening, so the party set out to find the warcamp, Vanriel swiftly tracking the enemy scouting party to the warcamp of Orc warlord Crosis. It was decided that Glux and Galan (disguised as the other hobgoblin scout, Josh) would infiltrate the warcamp, and spread word of an uprising that evening, when the warlord and his band ate their supper. As they plotted, an elf in Black Wolf uniform rode up fast on a warhorse. Imse shrunk away from him; he was quickly revealed as Imse's brother, Elhiver Soras, a more seasoned soldier (and true druid). He had gotten temporarily leave to seek his younger sister upon hearing she had enlisted. He tried to collect her, but Sgt Coras and Alkea reminded him she has duty now, and is already beginning to find herself in Galan's bardic teachings. Both Glux and Galan performed well in their disguises, spreading the world to many different subgroups of the camp slaves. The rest of the squad waited nearby, and when they saw Galan's flare, they rushed to the camp to help their comrades escape the chaotic rioting. Soren was nearly killed, but the entire squad escaped, and camped as far from the orcs and as close to the Fortress as they could ride. Henrietta and Josh's families were not spotted in the chaos, so the party could only guess they escaped. Godsday 24th of Sylvanus: The 32nd Squad made quick time north over the sands to the Fortress. When nearly there, they spotted a small troop of goblins investigating a strange structure of interlocking golden rods, studded with fantastically-large diamonds. As soon as Sgt Coras laid eyes on the artifact, he galloped away in fright, leaving his squadron behind. Clearly extremely magical, the party was unable to identify it, and decided to bring it just outside the Fortress for investigation for by the high mages there. When they arrived, they noticed the great ward crystal that usually hangs over the fort was missing, and the guards soon poured out, accusing them of bringing one of the only things in Elthelas that could have disable their wards. The party was arrested for treason, and they were brought inside as the mages desperately examined the mysterious artifact. Imse evaded capture, and Turgit was released without charges. Session 4 Elvesday 25th of Sylvanus: The charged (Alkea, Elhiver, Galan, Glux, Soren, and Vanriel) were held in the Fortress of Light's jail overnight, with their trial set for the next morning. Before the trial, Turgit visited the group to warn them Sgt Coras would be testifying against them, but that Turgit would be testifying in their support. He spoke to Glux first, but when he went to speak with Soren second, his skin became horribly itchy until small beetles began to pour form his eyes and other orifices, killing him agonizingly. The party stood trial shortly thereafter, electing Galan to be their defending lawyer. The prosecution (lead by Alliance lawyer Persius) accused the group of conspiracy and counter-espionage with the orc warlord Crosis's warcamp they had visited to the south, and treason for aiding in the removal of the ward crystal. Soren was additionally charged with the murder of Turgit Underhill through dark magics. Many witnesses were brought to the stand, and examined by both sides. Sergeant Coras was first, and told an elaborate (but not airtight) falsehood about Alkea leading a coup against him, and the party retrieving the artifact from the warcamp and bringing it to the Fortress, with him escaping when they fought some goblins in the desert. An Alliance mage, and former Dean of the Conjuration School at the College of Wizardry in Strovenguard explained the artifact seemed to be a sort of teleportation device designed to bypass warning, and had been used to teleport the crystal away. He also knew Soren's father (a professor at the College) personally, and recounted that his father had forbade him from being taught magic, warning terrible things would happen if he did. The guard who had seen Turgit consumed by bugs told what he saw, but without any understanding of magic, and having not come running until Turgit was already screaming and being consumed, he had little decisive evidence to offer. The defense first called the Glux himself to the stand, and had him tell the squads version of the events. Next they called the goblins that the squad had found with the artifact, Larry, Curly and Moe, who were also currently imprisoned. They spoke honestly but unflatteringly, and turned out to be known anti-Alliance spies, however, and their testimony was not well-received. Finally, the quartermaster testified on Coras's poor reputation as a coward and incompetent officer. Without even hearing closing statements from either side, the judge and jury announced the verdict: the party was acquitted of the charges of treason, but instead were to be held on suspicion of being spies, and exiled from the Fortress, prohibited form joining an military company in the Alliance of Six Nations. Soren, however, was found guilty of Turgit's murder, and would be executed at dawn the next day. Gnomesday 26th of Sylvanus: In his final night on earth, Soren concocted a plan to test his own magical prowess by drawing a rune circle on his cell floor in his blood, and chanting phrases in Infernal. He was interrupted by Imse Soras, who had met a mage and rogue interested in freeing the party. Glux and Alkea were hesitant, especially after recognizing the mage as a Neran, but everyone agreed to depart. Once a little ways south of the Fortress, the mage introduced himself as Najak, an Aradian priest of Nera. This only further upset Alkea, who as a sand orc was raised fighting the endless undead created by Nera's cult in Nerim. He assured them, however, that the necromancers of Nerim perverted the teaching of Nera, and that she is in fact a good goddess. Najak told the party had had seen them in a vision from the Pale Goddess, which revealed they were the only ones able to restore the ward crystal to the Fortress of Light. He said his vision lead him to believe that the party should next return to Crosis's warcamp, and asked if he could join them in their journey. Dwarvesday 27th of Sylvanus: After fending of a small pack of spotted hyenas, the party arrived at the site of the warcamp, but found it abandoned, with many bodies of goblinoid slaves hastily-buried in the sand. Vanriel identified two groups, a smaller one of slaves going east, and a larger one marching south. The party decided to follow the smaller group first, hoping it would be a safer way to inquire about the artifact and crystal. Dragonsday 28th to Orcsday 30th of Sylvanus: The party followed the escaped slaves' tracks eastward. When they arrived at the foothills of the mountains, they lost the trail, and even Vanriel could not continue tracking. Glux explained that escaped slaves are always extremely careful to hide their tracks, going on the assumption that anyone that did not escape with them is now dead. Discouraged, the party retraced their steps to old site of the warcamp. Goblinsday 31st to Gnomesday 34th of Sylvanus: When the party finally returned to the old warcamp site, the wind had marred the tracks of even the large southbound group, and Vanriel had to move very slowly and carefully to track them. Dwarvesday 35th to Dragonsday 36th of Sylvanus: The party followed the warbands trail south for two days, reaching the southern edge of the Blighted Desert. There, on the agrarian plains of Malinval, they saw the re-established warcamp. Session 5 Trollsday 37th of Sylvanus: While the party was discussing how to infiltrate the warcamp, a pepper merchant looking to sell his goods to the orcs arrived. He quickly hired on the party as guards, and together they made their way into the camp. Once inside the camp Glux and Alkea helped carry goods for the merchant to bargain with the warlord, while Galan tried to get information from the orcs guarding the wagon. Neither strategy produced a great deal of information. Glux then tried sneaking into the central palisade of the camp and listening in on various conversations, however most of the orc leaders seemed to be settling down for the night. Finally Vanriel and Glux investigated the scout report station, and discovered a document pointing the finger at a Warlord Molag of Parakas, on the other side of the rust desert. '''Orcsday 38rd of Sylvanus: '''The party left the warlords camp that morning, and remembering that Glux's cousin lived nearby they hoped he would know a way to get across the desert. They made their way north and east back into the rust desert. They did not get far however before they spotted what was likely a very large army approaching from the south. That night the sounds of battle and flame came from the location of Crosis camp. '''Goblinsday 39th of Sylvanus: '''The next day the party continued on their way trying to avoid capture by the very large army that was moving in from the south. They made their way almost to the edge of the rust desert before the armies scouts caught up with them. They managed to dispatch the scouts, but just after some rust infused air elementals appeared and abducted Soren as the party ran to get to Glux's cousins house. They arrived there that evening with Soren gone, and spent the night partying with the goblins. Session 6 '''Godsday 40th of Sylvanus: '''The party proceeded onward without Soren. Entering a tunnel system designed by escaped slave kobolds to help others escape under the rust desert and into the mountians. There they met a kobold priest of Cora who gave them aid and permission to use the tunnels with 2 conditions. They had to kill a necromancer and a rogue druid who had taken up residence within. '''Elvesday 1st of Gaiana: '''It was late on the first day traveling through the tunnels that the party realized they had forgotten to secure sufficient food for the journey. After some debate about whether to waste days going back and securing some, they discovered tracks in the dust, and decided to press onward instead. '''Gnomesday 2nd of Gaiana: '''On the second day they encountered the hidden chamber of the necromancer, where they found Soren, who had spent the last 3 days in a time-altered demi-plane before accidentally being summoned by the necromancer. They killed the necromancer's undead, and the necromancer tried to escape only to (apparently) be caught in a freak rust storm just outside his escape hatch. The party went about looting his hold, and discovered a couple useful magical items and sufficient food for their journey. Session 7 '''Dwarvesday the 3rd to Trollsday the 5th of Gaiana: '''The party travelled onward through the tunnels discovering increasing signs of the rogue druids presence (like druidic runes written on miles of walls in blood). '''Orcsday the 6th of Gaiana: '''The party discovered the druid at a wide chamber in the tunnel, where he was about to gut a wounded wolf. The party managed to dispatch the druid and save the wolf, only to find themselves under attack by a horde of dire rats. after dispatching the first group, another larger group of rats attacked. The party took refuge in a side chamber for the night.